AMPlify

AMPlify – the AMP Kingston podcast 

Welcome to AMPlify, the podcast from Creative Youth’s AMP Kingston heritage project, exploring art, music and pop fashion in the Kingston borough from the 1960s to the present day. 

Presented by heritage researcher Jarek Zaba, who delivers the series with the support of young volunteers, AMPlify features a wide range of voices related to Kingston’s music heritage.

This includes oral history interviewees reminiscing about Kingston’s music past, artists helping to deliver our exciting programme of public events, or our enthusiastic volunteers who are supporting us across the full range of our work.  

AMPLIFY is brought to you by Creative Youth with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

EPISODE 1: BOWIE AND BEYOND

In our opening episode we focus on Bowie and Beyond, a newly launched exhibition at Kingston Museum from AMP Kingston in partnership with The Community Brain. Bowie and Beyond explores the night in February 1972 when Ziggy Stardust was launched at a roadside pub in Tolworth called the Toby Jug.

Joining Jarek is AMP Heritage Collective volunteer Lottie Gomes, who shares a range of clips she gathered from attendees at the exhibition launch night – from locals who attended the gig to authors who have since explored it, via a Kingston University professor who spent a year of his life living as David Bowie.

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Host: Jarek Zaba with Lottie Gomes
Editing and mixing: Jarek Zaba
Production assistant: Lottie Gomes
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

EPISODE 2: UPCYCLE

Jarek sits down with AMP Project Manager Archie O’Neill to talk about the UPCYCLE event which took place at Creative Youth’s FUSEBOX space in June 2023.

Curated by Archie and AMP Trainee Project Manager Chiyana Ankhrah, UPCYCLE featured artistic installations, creative workshops and musical performances. Artistic interpretations used AMP’s heritage research as its basis, ‘upcycling’ it into contemporary messages of sustainability.

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Host: Jarek Zaba with Archie O’Neill
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Interviews by: Zuzanna Wężyk, Aisha Antwi, Vincente Canas
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

UPCYCLE Artists:
Zuzanna Wężyk
Courtney Ellis – ⁠courtneylellisillustrations.com⁠
Khourie Allen – ⁠khourieallen.co.uk⁠
Voices of Hope – ⁠voh.org.uk⁠
Ri – ⁠they.them.ri⁠ on Instagram
Sharifa – Sharifa Olateju on LinkedIn

EPISODE 3: ART

This episode focuses on music’s relationship to art.

How did artists promote themselves before the digital era? How did the widespread introduction of computers in the 1990s change the way music and art was promoted?

And does digitisation mean we have lost the craft of album artwork? Or does it open up new opportunities?

Jarek is joined by two graphic designers to explore this topic. As well as being an artist, Sue Smallwood played in Kingston band The Trudy in the 1980s – who were themselves enthusiastic producers of promotional artwork – while Josie Biggs is studying Graphic Design at Kingston University’s School of Art.

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Host:
Jarek Zaba with Sue Smallwood and Josie Biggs
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Editing assistance: Zuzanna Wężyk, Mario Cruz
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

EPISODE 4: MUSIC

Today’s episode focuses AMP’s core theme of music. 

Jarek once again invites two guests of different generations to discuss how things have changed in the last 20 years and beyond.

Since being involved in the very early years of Creative Youth in the late 2000s, Liam Cottrell has been on a musical journey that has seen him graduate from ‘man with guitar’ to festival DJ.

Xander Allman-Varty is a young singer-songwriter who has regularly played Creative Youth events, and knows what it means for upcoming musicians to cut their teeth in today’s industry.

In a wide ranging and open discussion, Jarek, Liam and Xander cover the digitisation of music production, the impact of the streaming revolution on artists, and whether the loss of music venues is the tragedy it is often presented as.

Listen to the episode on Spotify via the link below or by clicking here to view on our YouTube Channel.

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AMPLIFY is brought to you by Creative Youth with support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Host: Jarek Zaba with Liam Cottrell and Xander Allman-Varty
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

EPISODE 5: POP FASHION

This episode of AMPlify is all about the world of fashion and its relationship to music.

Our two guests have both lent their fashion expertise to the AMP project.

They Them Ri is an LGBTQ+ trailblazer and multidisciplinary artist and creative, also known by their Drag King Persona ‘Travis Hot’. Ri has worked with the likes of TikTok, UK Black Pride, and Lush, and in June 2023 they worked with us here on the AMP project at our UPCYCLE event, in which they delivered a drag makeup workshop inspired by the style of David Bowie.

Jessica Hazel has run Smoking Gun Vintage on London’s Brick Lane for the last 15 years, and has an extensive history of working in vintage, whether in shops, pop ups or festivals such as Glastonbury. She has also worked in the music industry as a promoter and journalist, and for the AMP Heritage Trail she developed our ‘street style’ exhibit: four mannequins that highlight four different subcultures from AMP’s 1960s-1990s timeline.

Over the course of the episode, we discuss Ri’s Bowie workshop and Jess’s exhibit, whilst also exploring fashion’s relationship to music…. Who are some of the most memorable musical style icons? How important is your look to your public appreciation? And what are some of the visual subcultures that people will associate with today’s era?

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Host: Jarek Zaba with They Them Ri and Jessica Hazel
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis

EPISODE 6: HERITAGE TRAIL

For our very final AMPlify episode, AMP researcher Jarek Zaba invites two members of the team to discuss the newly launched Heritage Trail.

With 17 stops in the Kingston area, the Heritage Trail is a series of displays and exhibitions that detail stories of Art, Music and Pop Fashion in the borough.

Stops include the Rose Theatre, Kingston University, and pub venues such as the Fighting Cocks, Grey Horse and the Lamb Surbiton, as well as a main exhibition in Creative Youth’s FUSEBOX.

Guests are Zoë Louizos, who has curated the content found across the Trail, and James Ward, who as designer has developed its graphics and associated branding.

The series rounds off with a conversation with Creative Youth co-director Archie O’Neill, who reflects on what the AMP Kingston project as a whole has achieved over the last two years for Creative Youth and the town.

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Host: Jarek Zaba with James Ward, Zoë Louizos and Archie O’Neill
Editing and Mixing: Jarek Zaba
Music: Mariia Yaremak
Artwork: Courtney Ellis